


The Earth changed the day we met

by Noah_Jabberwock



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Ending, Deadlock Jesse McCree, Demon Hanzo Shimada, Dragon Hanzo Shimada, Ficlet Collection, Genji could be the wiser brother, Happy Ending, Hunter Jesse McCree, M/M, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Samurai Hanzo Shimada, Soldier Jesse McCree, first encounter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 06:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17420843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noah_Jabberwock/pseuds/Noah_Jabberwock
Summary: Ficlet collection about a series of first encounters between Jesse McCree and Hanzo Shimada, set in alternative universes.Because soulmates are always meant to cross the path of each other, in a way or another.





	1. Tora Tora Tora

**Author's Note:**

> Meh, Hi!  
> I land to this fandom with this first story even if I've been looking around for months. I hope you like it and no story in this collection is written with the intention of offending someone. I think the only offending thing here is my English, but no beta reading, I die like a proud hero. If there are mistakes, tell me and I'll rewrite every wrong part.

 

_“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...”_  
_― John Lennon_

 

 

 

A call comes at Hanzo’s radio. The transmitter buzzes and gurgles rambling words, until the owner decides to lift it and bring it near his face.

"Hanzo". His brother’s voice passes trough his ears, thights his throat and then drops in his heart, melting like honey. "Hanzo, do you copy?"  
"Yes, Genji, I do. What’s going on?" Hanzo’s voice, instead, seems scratching on the palate and struggles for going out.

The engines of the plane make an hellish noise and not even the glass of the cockpit can isolate it outside. Hanzo thights his hand on the wheel in front of him.

  
"Nothing, brother. I just wanted to hear your voice, at least for a bit". Those words hurt Hanzo, they tear the flesh of his chest like a burning blade. 

  
The tears damp his eyes, but he can’t cry.   
He mustn’t.

  
In that grey sky due to the clouds, the only lights are those ones of the other airplanes in formation, next to his.  
On Hanzo’s right side there’s Genji and the older brother doesn’t have the courage for turning and looking at him; he’s afraid of seeing the same pain and the same fear reflected in his face. Neither of them two wants to be there, but it’s their duty for their own nation.

  
"Be strong, Genji. It will be over soon… ". Beneath them, the ocean shines with the lights of the dawn.  
They had got up at five o’clock, had prayed at a little shrine with incense and offers, had drunk sake and laughed remembering when they were younger, reminding events happened just three years before.

  
They are both still so young… 

  
Hanzo notices the targets, far beneath. He suddenly feels an ache in his chest.

  
He doesn’t want to do it. He must.

  
He gazes at his right and sees again Genji staring at him and Hanzo can imagine the tears and the pain forced in his body; the same is for Hanzo.  
The radio in Hanzo’s hand crackles again.

  
"I love you, Hanzo…". His voice trembles. 

  
"Me too, Genji…". Hanzo looks at him through the glass of the cockpit as he whispers those word in radio transmitter. He sees the brother tying the hachimaki on his forehead. Hanzo does the same. He tightens it with strength, wipes away the tears with the forearm.

  
"Are you ready, brother?"  
"Ready".  
"Let’s go".  
The dive of all the planes is done with a scaring sync.

 

An only shout seems spreading in the air.

 

_TORA TORA TORA_

 

The American battleship is closer and closer, Hanzo can notice the soldiers running in despair on the ship; they don’t understand what is happening, they only see fire and smoke and a plane approaching with an incredible speed.

  
One of the soldiers stops and lifts his head toward the sky. Hanzo can see him clearly for some fast seconds: the robust body, the shoulder length hair, the beard unshaved, the hazel eyes. Those warm irises don’t seem angry or scared. They seem almost peaceful and resigned, full of an only question.  
Why?  
Hanzo smiles bitterly, leaves the wheel and starts crying.

  
_American … you are almost pretty…_

  
Then only the darkness.

And a thunder.

 

 

_Pearl Harbor, 1941, December 7._

 


	2. The roommate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, the second chapter!  
> As always, if you notice mistakes, tell me and I'll correct everything!

 

The door of the room suddenly opens wide with a noise that makes Jesse jolt while he is lying down on the bed he has chosen. The headphones slide down his nape and settle around his neck as he eyes from head to foot the one who supposedly is his roommate.

Jesse’s chest warms: the oriental boy on the door is a bliss to his homosexuality.

“I apologize. Wasn’t my intention bothering you.” His accent affects a little bit the words and the pronunciation, but it’s still wonderful.

A box full of personal effects lays at his feet and Jesse is sure that in the hallway there is other luggage.

“Nah, don’t worry!” Jesse rises from the bed and extends his hand. “The name’s Jesse McCree.” His smile dazzles.

The other boy shakes Jesse’s hand. “Hanzo Shimada … what are you going to study?”

“Robotic engineering … and you?”

“Biomedical engineering”

Jesse whistles. “Cool … hey, do ya need a help with the luggage?”

The other shakes his head. “No, don’t worry” he says, bending for collecting the box.

Jesse can assert safely that Hanzo's ass has been carved by the angels.

Suddenly Hanzo gets up without lifting the box and turns quickly; just in time Jesse can look away from that work of art and he sees Hanzo flushing. The cheeks of the new roommate are bright pink and he doesn’t look at Jesse straight in the eye.

“I have to tell you something.” His voice is incredibly serious, almost frightens Jesse.

“Hey, what’s up? Don’t ya feel well?” Hanzo seems flushing even more, but his tone remains serious, almost harsh.

“I’m … homosexual. I hope it’s not a problem for you…” Jesse gulps and feels a delicious and warm satisfaction filling his chest.

“Why would it be a problem?” and for the first time since Jesse has seen him coming in the room, Hanzo smiles.

An only thought crosses Jesse’s mind. 

_You look a lot like my next boyfriend…_


	3. Eat me alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos.  
> I dedicate this chapter to What is my password, who left a lovely comment for this story.  
> The first sentence is in my first language (Italian) and the translation is "The beauty will save the world." Yeah, I know it's selfish, but I prefer how it sounds in Italian.  
> Noah.

_La bellezza salverà il mondo._

_\- Fedor Dostoevskij._

 

 

 

Jesse exhales.

The moonlight breaches in the slit of the wooden door and it lights faintly every detail of that rotten and destroyed room of the ancient temple. All the altars and shrines are broken, the walls are covered with marks of claws, deep and deadly. And the monster who did all of this is right before him. In that moment, the dragon has his human form and he’s so beautiful that aches. Jesse doesn’t dare to hurt a so majestic and graceful creature.

The sharpen eyes of the dragon just stare at him and the silence would be deafening if there’s wasn’t the howl of the wind among the trees.

Jesse has been following him over the mountain, in the wood till he has reached the temple – the dragon’s home.

Jesse should kill him. He won’t. It would be the worst of the sins, he’s sure he would burn in hell if he did it.

Jesse is the best hunter in the business, he had been hired to slay the last powerful magical creature who lived the surroundings of the area because the rail had to pass on the Mount Hanamura. But that mountain was the monster’s home and he had been fighting with nails and teeth against those humans who wanted to destroy his place and kill him and his race. But now the dragon is the last. The other dragon – the brother - had been killed well before Jesse arrived.

The hunter has just to complete the task. He has just to rise his big Colt and pull the trigger. Jesse won’t do it.

He had been tailing the dragon for a bit; for understanding his habits, for figuring out how he lives. Jesse had seen him while he tore apart soldiers who shot against him; while he destroyed the bulldozers that raze the forest … while he roared toward the stars, crying for his lost brother; while he turned into the most beautiful man Jesse has ever seen, having a bath in the cold creek; while he rejected the excavator that was smashing the den of a small group of kitsunes.

Jesse doesn’t have the heart for killing the beast in front of him.

“Hunter.” The dragon’s voice is low and almost silky. Jesse swears he could smell the scent of the cherry blossoms.

“Hunter, you’ve been following me for so long time. Why hadn’t you killed me before this moment?” There’s genuine curiosity in his tone Jesse can detect the tension in his voice, as if he is walking on the thin ice.

“I dunno.” And that’s the truth. Every time Jesse could shot him, a strange force stayed his hand.

The hunter sees the rage flaming up in the dragon’s eyes.

“I don’t need your pity, human.” The dragon spits that appellation, as if he despises all the mankind. Probably he does.

“It’s not pity.” Jesse assures “I just felt the most horrible man of this world at thinkin’ of pointin' my Peacekeeper to kill ya. I would be guilty as if I spit on the holiest thing on the Earth.”

The dragon widens his eyes. “Why me and not all the magical beings you’ve been killing before?”

“Yer beauty.” And even if Jesse’s voice is low and shy, the dragon can hear that truth.

The hunter leaves the grip on his gun and the weapon falls on the ground. Jesse doesn’t realize the dragon has clenched the clawed fingers around his until he doesn’t feel air anymore in the lungs.

“You foolish human. Your stupidity will be your death.”

Jesse doesn’t complain but he asks. “One request. Your name.” Jesse well know that magical creatures never say their real name to humans. But he’s going to die anyway, that request is just selfishness.

The dragon doesn’t speak for some seconds. “My name is Hanzo.”

The name melts on McCree’s lips when he pronounces it. “Hanzo … magnificent … beautiful as the owner.”

Now Jesse is ready to die. Maybe. “One last thing…”  
“You are requiring too much for someone is going to die…” There’s almost amusement in Hanzo’s tone. For the death of the hunter or for the new request, Jesse can’t tell it.

“A kiss.” The hunter doesn’t know where he has found the boldness to make that demand, he just knows he wants a bite, a taste of that mysterious being.

The dragon says nothing. The grip on Jesse’s neck becomes stronger.

The mouth of the dragon is soft like a flower, it tastes like cherry blossoms. Jesse will remember the scent even in the flames of Hell or in the clouds of Heaven.

_Killed by the beauty. Such an honorable death._


	4. Warriors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure this chapter is not historically precise. The words in Italics are in Japanese. As always, tell me if there are mistakes.  
> Noah.

_City of Edo, 1854._

 

“ _Stop ogling him._ ” Genji whispers to his brother, warning him.  
Hanzo complies after few seconds, trying to focus on the samurai in front of him, the other line of guards. It’s difficult obeying to that order, even because Hanzo is curios. He has never seen a gaijin. And one of them is quite handsome.

  
The older Shimada is usually in charge by the emperor to quell rebellions or to work as police around the country, so he doesn’t attend to meetings so often.  
The translator is a rich trader of Edo who is trying to expand his business beyond the ocean.

The emperor is curious and so is Hanzo. At the beginning, he disagreed with the opening of Japanese ports to the western trade but now the interest pervades him. There are three foreigners in presence of the holy emperor and they are almost funny: Hanzo can see they don’t know how to behave precisely in front of that authority, as if they have learnt the etiquette the minute before meeting the lord of that land.  
They are soldiers. They can wear a different military uniform, they can use different weapons but the manners of all the soldiers are the same in all the world. And even the eyes, mostly if they have seen death. Or they have caused it.   
The one in the middle is probably the chief. He’s blonde, even if his hair starts to grey. The trader refers to him as “ _Morrison-san_ ”. On the right of Morrison there’s another man with dark hair and Hanzo didn’t catch his name. He didn’t care.

  
But for the man on the left, Hanzo has paid more attention.  
The name is Jesse McCree. Hanzo is sure that he couldn’t pronounce it well. Strange, exotic. Foreigner.   
His name on Hanzo’s lips would have the taste of that world he has never known. The samurai wants to know him better.

And he’s certain that even the gaijin wants to know Hanzo better: he hasn’t stopped glancing at him since he had come in the room. His smirk is charming. The broad chest is appealing.

  
“ _It’s decided so._ ”   
Both the samurai and the gaijin look at the trader and the holy emperor.   
“ _Shimada Hanzo._ ” The emperor calls the samurai and the warrior stands up from his seiza and bows the second later, waiting for the orders. “ _You are one of my most trustworthy warriors. Be the escort and the guide of these American soldiers._ ”  
Hanzo’s heart skips a beat and keeps himself from grinning as he assures he will comply.

When the interpreter translates, Hanzo sees Jesse’s face lighting up.   
The younger Shimada is probably cursing every Hanzo’s thought but the older Shimada instead doesn’t care.

  
He has to obey to the emperor now.


	5. Sandman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter actually makes no sense,

“Is this Hell?”   
Jesse’s voice is just a whisper. He cannot see anything, the night sky is just a blur dotted with white. He can feel the blood flowing out from the wound on his abdomen. He’s dying, he’s sure. Those who he called fellas had left him behind, not caring to save him or even to pick up his dead body.  
It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter even if Jesse just wants to spit in their face.

  
Even Ashe had left him behind.

  
“No, not yet. But the path you are walking now heads to that direction.”

  
That is not the voice of somebody of his comrades. The tone is low and soiled as if it comes from the deepness of the Earth, as if it is a sound from otherworld.   
Suddenly the owner of the voice appears and Jesse is sure this is just a pre-mortem delirium. There cannot be in that world something so scaring: he’s tall at least three meters, the skin is gray as the smoke and the fog, the eyes are white as the silence and the horns are the same of a bull.  
Jesse is scared, but he can’t run away. Maybe that thing is the Death itself and it is come to take his soul.

  
“What are you?”  
“Just a demon passing by. I’ve seen you here and I’ve approached.”  
Jesse swallows air and blood.

  
“You want … my soul?”  
The demon sits down next to him. “What should I do with your soul, human?”

  
Jesse is utterly becoming crazy, but this is almost funny before the Death.

  
“What do you want from me, then?” Jesse asks and he feels the air leaving his lungs and hardly coming back.  
“What should I want from a human who is dying?”

  
This delirium starts to become disappointing and McCree can’t believe something like this could happen.

  
“I dunno…”  
“Do you want to live, human?”

  
Jesse chokes on his own breath and tries to widen his eyes; tries to look at that monster still next to him.  
He smiles defeated, ready to die.   
“That would be wonderful, sweety…”

  
The demon says nothing, just puts a hand on Jesse’s chest and mumbles something.

  
McCree suddenly wakes up in his very room, well before he could take bad decisions for his life.


End file.
